Retail Briefs

May Chairman and CEO Resigns

Gene Kahn has resigned as chairman and CEO of The May Department Stores Company. John Dunham, current president of May, has been named by the board of directors as acting chairman and CEO along with his duties as president.

According to the company, a search to fill the CEO position will begin immediately and will include both internal and external candidates. The board elected Russell Palmer as lead director. James Kilts, also a director, will chair the search committee.

Gordon Leaves Restoration Hardware

Stephen Gordon, founder and chairman of Restoration Hardware, has resigned to become CEO of Sundance, the retail division of the brand founded by Robert Redford. Gordon, who founded the company in 1980 with a catalog and retail division, also was the author of much of the quirky catalog copy.

Gary Friedman, who joined the company from Williams-Sonoma in 2001 as CEO and president, also will serve as interim chairman of the board.

Garden Ridge Gets Extension

A bankruptcy court has approved an agreement with Bank of America and General Electric Capital Corporation for an extension of Garden Ridge's debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing on terms more advantageous to the company, according to Garden Ridge.

All objections to the motion for approval of the extension were withdrawn prior to the hearing. Bank of America and General Electric Capital Corporation have also provided a proposal to Garden Ridge for exit financing under terms that are more favorable than the existing DIP agreement.

Gottschalks Leases Oregon Store

Gottschalks Inc. has leased a 44,000-square-foot store in Albany, Ore. The new Gottschalks store will be an anchor store in the Heritage Mall with Target, Sears, Ross and a soon-to-open Old Navy. Renovations to the new Gottschalks location have begun and the company expects to open the store in April 2005.

Macy's Home Book Will Set the Tone

The fruits of the new, consolidated Macy's Home merchandising team will debut when Macy's mails its home catalog in February.

The new book will be “dramatically different” from its predecessors, according to Terry Lundgren, Federated Department Stores' president, chairman and CEO, who addressed a session at the National Retail Federation convention last week.

Lundgren said Macy's is determined to regain ground it has lost in home, which over the past few years has slipped from 25 percent of total sales to about 20 percent.

By March 6, all hyphenated nameplates in the Federated stable will be renamed Macy's, and the company will launch an intensive television ad campaign to promote the Macy's brand during key periods throughout the spring, he said.